


Love Burns

by marippe



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tearjerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1243471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marippe/pseuds/marippe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief vignette into an AU where Cyrus and Hikari met as peers prior to his forming Galactic. Her sudden, unexpected death drives him to his ultimate goal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Burns

She came with open hands, without any guile to speak of. Palms oustretched, arms flung wide, eyes clear and bright and curious, watching, taking everything in with not an ounce of calculation or fear. The love she gave was too much to bear, too much to weigh down a shadow of a soul. What she offered was so pure it burned.

 

"She left this for you."

Carefully, Cyrus took it, gingerly accepting the letter as if it might suddenly explode into nothing but dust. "Thank you," he managed, voice only a margin above a whisper.

Ayako turned, went back to the house, and shut the door, leaving him standing on the garden path, halfway between the door and the gate back to the street. He looked down at the envelope. It was Hikari's stationery. His name was looped tightly on the front, but she'd not gotten around to writing the address or adding postage yet. It wasn't sealed, and the little piece of paper he could see folded and tucked away was covered with the indents of her writing on the other side.

Minutes ticked by with him staring at the envelope, but he couldn't bring himself to read it. He strode towards the street, steps purposeful, eyes blind. There was nothing for him to see in the world any longer, now that the only real light had left it. From here on, it would be one foot after the other, one step, and then another, into a future he could not even truly picture. What would it be like for the world to be like he was now - numb, indifferent, unfeeling. But he still felt, much more than he liked to admit. He did not feel the slight breeze in the air, but he felt her hand, firm on his arm as she walked with him. He did not see the street in front of him, but he did see her stop, point out a Starly nest in a tree on the other side of the road. Those passing on the same side saw a dead man walking and moved out of his way. He didn't notice, nor did he hear the whispers as they moved around him; instead, he heard her soft laughter, watching the little birds in the nest make their way out onto a branch.

Somehow, he had arrived home, and he realized that he was alone. That she was gone.

Gone.

A sudden rage made him want to rip the letter to shreds. How dare she leave him alone! He looked down, at his hands gripping the envelope like it was the only thing tethering him to the planet, and gently released it. It began to fall, but he reached, caught it, just in time. The wrinkles in the paper marred the formerly smooth surface - just like the pain emotion brings ruins the world that could be, he thought.

Four days passed before he read the letter. It was full of the usual chatter that came with Hikari's letters. She'd not known she was going to die when she wrote it. But at the end, she had written something, and then hastily scribbled it out, something that made Cyrus squint and hold the letter up to the light to read it underneath the furious loops she had drawn over the words.

"I love you."

No. Those words were like fire, and they ate away at every last scrap of him that was human. He dropped the letter, gripped the edge of the desk. He wanted to fold into himself, just keep getting smaller and smaller until finally he had just disappeared and become nothing but air. He cried, because love burned.

When he rose from his chair, tall and proud and calm, he was something different. Something more than human, and yet less. There was no word for it, but when he was finished, there would not need to be, for the whole world would be like him.

 

Her eyes were the same. That expression, the little pout she gave when she didn't understand something or didn't like the way he was phrasing it, the tiny wrinkle of her nose, barely imperceptible unless you were watching closely - and he was watching closely. He was very aware of the child's discomfort with his intense stare, but he could not tear his gaze away. He opened his mouth to speak, but for the first time he could recall, nothing came. No words were appropriate to address a ghost, especially not the ghost of /her/.

She watched him, tilting her head slightly to the side, as if he was an oddity on display. She was fearless. Even with him towering over her, she seemed not a bit intimidated.

"We were just going to the lake, sir."

He stepped out of the way, allowing them to pass. She seemed not to notice as his gaze followed her to the water's edge. He hardly noticed her companion, a boy with bright hair, and even brighter clothes. The two of them stopped at the taller grass next to the lake, looking out over the water and chatting amongst themselves. The girl's every movement was like watching a recording of that woman. He forced himself to turn away. His path was forged, his plans set into motion. There was no turning back, not even to be reminded of why.


End file.
